Thank you to Harper Voyager for the Netgalley widget for DRAGON RIDER. This review is entirely my own thoughts and opinions based on the digital advance copy I read.

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DRAGON RIDER is the first book in a new series by Taran Matharu. It's the harsh story of a prince sent into slavery alongside his brothers to an empire bent on ruling all within their reach. When betrayal comes at the hands of the prince he serves, Jai flees for his life with a rare dragon egg in his hands. It's a complex fantasy world full of diversity, magic, unique animals, politics, and the harsh realities of war and conquest.

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MY THOUGHTS:

Before picking this book up, I was in a horrible rut. I was starting and stopping every book I was attempting to read. I picked this one up, and the same night, I was up until 3am in the morning and had knocked out 30% of the book in one go. I was hooked. The world building of DRAGON RIDER is complex, rich, and vibrant. The magic of this world is intricately detailed and fully fleshed out. Every race has its own uniqueness and lore. While the pacing of the story has some hiccups, the action and desire to know what happens next, kept the pages turning.

While Jai was a bit of an annoying MC, his youthful naiveness plays an important part to his character arc and him needing to come into his own. Despite growing up in slavery, he still has a heart of gold that keeps him pushing forward to do the right thing, no matter how many times it ends up blowing back in his face. I lived for his interactions with his dragonling, Winter. They were some of the most wholesome interactions that reminded me once again that I really need my own dragon.

All in all, this was a classic fantasy for me which was exactly what I was looking for. If fantasy is your jam, definitely pick this up.

I quite enjoyed this story with its political intrigue, characters that are likable, and of course dragons. There is quite a lot to like about this book, and only a couple of things I didn’t like so much. But it is still a really great read that I think many people will enjoy.

Jai is the main character of the story and his is the only point of view we get. You can tell from the start that he is smart and brave, but in many ways he is very naive. He has spent little to no time outside of the palace he lives in, and has spent little time in the company of others. Although he has read a lot about many things, there is nothing like experience to truly teach you the ways of the world. Once he is forced into the world, he has little choice to learn quickly in order to survive. Jai spends the entire book learning about himself and growing the confidence he needs to be soulbonded to a dragon. The young dragon is quite delightful and I loved watching the two of them bond.

There are many other characters in the story, especially in the first part that takes place in the palace. Some we get to know better than others. There are only two other characters that we get to know well, Frida and Rufus. Frida is the handmaiden who is also soulbound to a dragon. I liked her quite a bit and she is helpful to Jia and helps to teach him how to navigate his new found world. Rufus is a soulbound they meet on their journey. He is not quite who he seems and they are not totally trustful of him, but he does help both of them out when the need arises.

The story itself is pretty straight forward. This book has three parts to it. The first part is all about the politics of this world and how the different societies and classes work within it. The second is a survival story but it also teaches us a lot more about soulbinding and the magic around it. The final part is how Jia comes into himself and becomes the leader that he needs to be after suffering his worst hardship yet. All three of these parts are important, but the pacing in the middle does lag a bit as much of the time is spent on Jai learning to soul breath. The ending seemed a bit rushed and slightly confusing as the parties are split up.

The writing and the world building is well done. I felt totally immersed in this world and felt like I understood its workings as least as well as Jia. It is not a happy story and there are many dark and gruesome scenes throughout. Some that Jia is only a witness to, but others that he is a participant in or a victim of. There are some bright spots, most between Jia and his dragon, but these are few and far between.

I thought that this was a great start to a new series. I am very much looking forward to reading the next book, and hope that there will be many more to follow. This is a fantastic new world and some great characters that I want to spend more time with. Highly recommend to those of you who enjoy high fantasy with great world building and characters you can fall in love with.

I thought the book started off strong but it was too slow paced for my liking. I wanted to DNF it 40% way through. I skimmed through most of it until it started picking back up toward the end. I felt like a 1/3 of the book was just about mana.

The world building and character development were well executed and I enjoyed most of the plot.


Thank you to the author and publisher for the this pre-released copy from NetGalley.

This book was an absolute masterpiece. The storyline was captivating from beginning to end, filled with unexpected twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat. The author's use of tone added another layer of depth to the already compelling plot, making it a truly immersive reading experience. I cannot recommend this book enough - truly a must-read for any avid reader.

Once I started this, I couldn't put it down! It was such a refreshing story. The world building is beautiful, unique but with real-world roots that makes it easier to understand. Loved the main character's growth through the book. I can't wait to read the finalized version and see what the series has in store for Jai, Winter and a certain handmaiden!

Dragon Rider is an intriguing start to the Soulbound Saga.

If you were to ask me to give you a short synopsis I would have to say, there is a prince who is more like a slave, a servant from a mysterious kingdom, and a baby dragon. Mix in an on the road adventure while running from the bad guys.

All in all I enjoyed this book. The world building at the beginning was a little slow, but pacing did even out.

I’m the first one to yell about how much I love dragons and political intrigue but the execution was unfortunately not there for this one. The pacing was uneven, huge action scenes with slower traveling and training between without a real clear sense of why we should care about these characters. This book feels like a long prologue.

I think I would like this more if I were new to fantasy. Sort of in the way I loved Eragon as a younger reader. But now that I have been steeped in the tropes of fantasy for so long this fell flat. We follow our main character Jai through many of the classic dragon fantasy story beats, young protagonist bonds with dragon, has to go on the run, meets old mentor, etc.

What made this less engaging than some of the other books of this persuasion was that the main character was being dragged along by the plot rather than him making actions/taking steps to move the story along. I did not feel like there was any agency for him even when there were decisions to be made.

I didn’t dislike it out right though, I enjoy the subversion of the trope of kind wise mentor character. And per usual the dragon Winter is the best character.

Overall this book tried to do a lot and succeeded in some of it. Long stretches in the middle were repetitive and too expository. The story and themes would benefit from stronger writing, but the story as a whole had enough interesting that I kept reading. Not sure if I am invested enough to check out a sequel though.
2.5

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

In the last couple of years I've read a few books by YA authors delving into writing adult fantasy. Every one of them flopped in my opinion. Needless to say, I was skeptical about picking this one up. But, it has dragons! So of course I had to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised.

Jai is the son of Rohan, the leader of one of the Steppefolk tribes. When Rohan lost the war against the Sabines, he was executed and his sons made prisoners of the Sabine Emperor. Jai has been the ward of the aging Emperor for years now. The Sabine empire has since passed to the son of the man that killed his father.

Emperor Constantine has made a match between his son and the Dansk princess. Uniting their people will expand the empire and give the Sabines what they've never had. Dragons.

I had a great time reading this. I love dragon books, political fantasy, and interesting magic. This has all of those things. I also loved Jai, Frida, Winter, and Rufus. There are plenty of characters to loathe as well.

Incredible! Constantly amazing! I felt as if I were traveling with Jai and Frida and learning to soulbond alongside them! Winter stole my heart!

*Full review to be posted closer to publication*

Dragon Rider is everything you might want and expect in a classic dragon fantasy. It doesn't necessarily bring anything overly new or exciting to the fantasy table, but it does do a great job of hitting some very nostalgic fantasy vibes that I'm sure any fantasy fan could enjoy. There was a distinct lack of dragon riding itself in this book despite the title, but I still loved all the dragons and the introduction of a very thoughtful and interesting magic system. I'll definitely be curious to see what's next in this series!

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu takes readers on an adventurous journey through a world of political intrigue and mythical creatures. Set against a royal court teeming with secrets and betrayal, the story follows Jai, an orphan captive, as he navigates the treacherous landscape of power struggles and alliances.

While the novel's premise is compelling, with its promise of dragons and revenge, the execution falls somewhat short of expectations. The pacing can be uneven sometimes, with intense action interspersed with slower, less engaging sections.

Overall, Dragon Rider is enjoyable for fantasy fiction fans. It offers a blend of magic, adventure, and intrigue.

I wanted to love this. And I loved aspects. Winter. I loved Winter. But for the most part I was quite bored for much of the book.

So this book is full of Adventure it's everything that you want in a dragon rider Epic.Big worlds Great characters and swift action makes this book a gem to read can't wait for the next one,Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC an opportunity to read this book before everyone else

3.5 stars?

This is another book that's hard for me to figure out exactly what I think of it and how to write a review. So we'll try the bullet points again.

What I liked:
*Detailed world building. I definitely had a good understanding of the world, the players, the history, and the magic
*The magic system. No "waves hands and it works" magic system here. We get an incredibly detailed look at how soulbonding works, what one can do with it, the different levels, how mana works, and the limitations.
*Winter. This dragon can't speak, but she's very expressive, and I love her bond with Jai.

What I didn't love:
*The pace. It's slow paced for sure. We get tons of detail, lots of repetition that's not necessary, and the plot moves slowly. I would normally expect the contents of the blurb to happen before the 30% mark, and that in no way happens here.
*Inconsistencies. Hopefully a lot of this will be cleaned up with further edits, but there were an astonishing amount of inconsistencies from one page to the next. One page they're going to go east, next page they say west. This happens a TON.

What I'm still not sure about;
*Jai and Frida. I never felt a real emotional connection to them. I honestly should have been hand to throat worried about them so many times. But emotionally, I wasn't as engaged as I should be. And I think it's because we spend so much time on the world around them and the magic system. And Jai has been so closed away from the world that he is understandably naive, but it is grating at times.

I am curious enough to continue the series I think, but it won't be at the very top of my TBR.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

Dragon Rider follows Jai, an orphaned royal hostage, forced to serve the former emperor that executed his father. His whole world changes though, when Princess Erica engaged to the emperor’s son arrives with soulbound dragons, native to her kingdom, in toe. Only Dansk royalty know the key to soulbounding a dragon, but the marriage alliance will change that. However, it quickly becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems. There are plots being hatched that will leave the kingdom in chaos leaving Jai the perfect opportunity to escape. Along the way, he finds a hatchling dragon and must work together with Princess Erica’s escaped handmaiden to learn his newfound magic because without it, there’s no hope for revenge.

Dragon Rider is Matharu’s debut adult fantasy, and if you’ve read his YA Summoner series, you’ll pick up on similar themes at a much higher intensity. It’s especially apparent in the accidental bonding by the MMC with a magical creature. Given this is an adult fantasy, it’s worht noting that the pacing will be much slower at times than Matharu’s fast paced YA series. This is to be expected, though, with all of the necessary world building and political set up required from the first in series book which Matharu expertly handled. There is so much we as readers must learn in a relatively short span to understand the political machinations at play with the warring Kingdoms and what an alliance with Dansk would truly mean. In terms of the magic system, Matharu did such a great job with the level of detail he provided from the magic created by the soulbound to the process of generating mana for the magic. I particularly loved getting to learn more about the different levels and types of magical creatures one can become soulbound to, but given I’m in my dragon era, I was most excited by the dragons. Speaking of dragons, I can’t wait to experience more with Winter, Jai’s accidental soulbound dragon. I must say, based on the description, all I kept picturing was the Light Fury from How to Train Your Dragon, but I’m not mad about that. The plot itself is full of gruesome death and battle, betrayal, political scheming, and twists that have the potential to change the course of these characters forever. I highly recommend sticking through the slow start because the payoff will be worth it.

Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu is a fun fantasy series starter. It's told in 3rd person POV by our main character Jai. The book is well written, the story flows easily, and the chapters are short.

I enjoy the magic system - the idea of bonding with creatures is not new, but this was fun take with soulbinding, the use of mana, and resulting magic. Jai is an compelling character with an interesting history, but his progression is a bit unbelievable. He does have to learn to use his new abilities, but he is far too competent, too quickly. I did really enjoy a character introduced in act 2 and hope he makes another appearance in the next book.

I liked the 1st act setting the stage, but like others was a bit thrown off by the shift in act 2. I don't think there were any unnecessary moments, but there was too much time dedicated to it compared to the climatic act 3. I feel like we were too rushed at the end where we could have had more descriptions of the action taking place.

I am very excited to continue this series and see where all the story threads started here take us.

Rated 4 stars. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley or the ARC ebook.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars.

Liked:
Good world-building and character development
Interesting plot
Epic journey

Disliked:
Can sometimes drag a bit
While it was an enjoyable read, it felt as though not much happened

A straightforward dragon fantasy book, with a bit more depth and nuance than at first glance. The character building seems to be the main focus, so perhaps additional books will shift to cover more of the story development. It's a bit slow at times, but well worth reading if you like a classic dragon fantasy,

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC**

This book is written from a make perspective which I usually don’t gravitate towards, but after reading Iron Flame I was on a dragon rider binge. This book has good character development and world building. I love the dragons.